Loaded Container Truck Kills Three, Injures Fifteen in Monrovia

Monrovia – Saturday evening was cool and commercial activities were usual on Johnson Street, downtown Monrovia until a truck carrying two 40ft sea containers lost its breaks on a shallow hill right after the bus parking on Benson and Johnson Streets intersection.

At least three persons have been reportedly killed while 15 were seriously injured, Police Spokesman Sam Collins confirmed to FrontPageAfrica.

The truck, which had no license plate, was carrying supplies to NICOM Distillery located on Lynch Street.

An eye witness told FrontPageAfrica the truck was parked on the hill and the tyres were chucked with rocks to prevent it from rolling.

However, the rocks could not keep the tires in position.

A bystander told this paper he saw the truck driver struggling with the steering wheel to stop the truck from sliding down the hill.

Joe Harris, a security of the Security Expert Guard Agency of Liberia (SEGAL), said he had just returned from work and was resting in his room when he heard a heavy sound.

According to him, he rushed out to the scene and surprisingly saw his 15-year-old son lying under one of the tyres of the truck.

“My son, Bishop Harris, was lying down under the container truck tire."

"We found a jack and we raised the tire up and I collected my son and he is lying down in Mawah hospital, but my sister who owns the cook bowl shop, Rose Taylor, when I rushed to the hospital, I couldn’t see her".

"I do not know whether she is dead and even her daughter and the others that were in the shop. I cannot find them,” Harris said.

Steven Cooper, another eyewitness and a DVD seller at the Johnson Street market said when he noticed that the container trucker driver lost control of the truck, he quickly escaped from where he was selling.

Cooper was safe from harm but his friend (name not given), a money exchanger, got seriously wounded and was rushed to John F. Kennedy Memorial Medical Center.

“So, the guy who does the money exchange while escaping got hit by the tyre on his foot and it burst. He is at the JFK Hospita as we speak. "

"Two persons died on the scene. We carried four other persons to JFK Hospital and another person died at the JFK Hospital,” Cooper said.

The Police is yet to officially determine the cause of the accident. The scene was immediately visited by Vice President Joseph Boakai who expressed his condolence to the bereaved families.